On December 9 2004, in Belgrade, Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine organised a humanitarian concert at the White Palace. You can find an article about it here: http://www.royalfamily.org/statement...state-1076.htm Here are some photos from the event.

Belgrade, 12 November 2004 – HRH Crown Prince Alexander and the employees of The Royal Palace organized a birthday celebration for the 61st birthday of Crown Princess Katherine, which is actually tomorrow 13 November.

Touched and excited, the Princess thanked all who enabled and prepared this surprise and added:

“None of my dreams could have been fulfilled if it there weren’t for you. I want to thank all of you who are part of this team. Your hard work and help contribute in making our country better and happier. You give me strength to continue my humanitarian work, to endure in my mission and to help all those in need. Thank you for your efforts and your hard work. This is the beginning of a new year which I hope will bring happiness and joy to all.”

I'm going to try and go through the history of all the residences of the Royal Family, starting with the Royal Palace

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The Royal Palace was built between 1924 and 1929 with the private funds of His Majesty King Alexander I (the grandfather of HRH Crown Prince Alexander). The Royal Palace was the home of King Alexander I and King Peter II (the father of Crown Prince Alexander). Today The Royal Palace is the home of Crown Prince Alexander and his family.

The architects were Zivojin Nikolic and Nikolay Krassnoff of the Royal Academy. The palace is built in the Serbian-Byzantine style. Attached to The Royal Palace there is a Royal Chapel dedicated to Saint Apostle Andrew The First-Called, the Patron Saint of The Royal Family. The chapel was built reflecting the monastery Church of Saint Andrew on the River Treska in Macedonia where the Holy Place of the medieval Serbian King Vukashin is located.

The Royal Palace is surrounded with pergolas, park terraces, swimming pools, pavilions and platforms. There are magnificent views from the palace towards the ridge of Dedinje Hill, Koshutnjak Forest, Topchider and Avala Mountain.

The ground floor reception rooms are very beautifully appointed. The Formal Entrance Hall is paved with stone and decorated with copies of medieval frescoes from the Monasteries of Dechani and Sopochani. The Blue Drawing Room is decorated in the Baroque style; the Golden Drawing Room (Palma Vecchio) and Dining Room are in the Renaissance style with impressive wood carved ceilings and bronze chandeliers. These rooms are ornately decorated with paintings of old masters and Renaissance painted Florentine Cassoni from the Royal collections. The Greater and Lesser Libraries are decorated in the same manner.

Next one: The White Palace. I really love this palace. It isn't as big or 'flash' as other palaces, but it still has a lot of character, not to mention history. If you notice from the photos, it seems quite airy and open, which is very nice to see. A lot of palaces are cluttered and seem claustrophobic. :(

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The White Palace (Beli Dvor) is located within the same complex as The Royal Palace and it was commissioned by command of His Majesty King Alexander I. The White Palace was built with the private funds of King Alexander I as the residence for his three sons HRH Crown Prince Peter (the future King Peter II and father of HRH Crown Prince Alexander), Prince Tomislav and Prince Andrej .

King Alexander I envisaged that his three sons would require their own private accommodation when they would become of age. The assassination of HM King Alexander I in 1934 in Marseille separated the king from his family, causing the destiny of his sons to take a different turn. The young King Peter II became the new master of the Dedinje Complex and continued to reside in The Royal Palace with his mother HM Queen Maria and his two brothers. The completion of The White Palace was supervised by King Peter II great uncle HRH Prince Regent Paul.

The White Palace took almost four years to finish (1934-1937) and it became the official residence on loan of HRH Prince Regent Paul and his family in waiting for King Peter II majority.

The architect was Aleksandar Djordjevich. The ground floor of this classicistic palace houses a large hall and a number of drawing rooms furnished in the style of Louis XV and Louis XVI with large Venetian chandeliers. There is also a library and a formal Chippendale dining room. The first floor apartments are reached by stairs and a Gallery overlooking the Hall. The attic has further rooms and another library.

There is also a thatched house on the grounds of the royal palace. I think I read somewhere that it's called a "peasant house" or something like that. If anyone has more information on it, I would really love to know. :) I found some photos of it on their website, but there's no information. It seems like a quaint place to live in.

This seems like a very beautiful church. There is more information about it here: http://www.royalfamily.org/dvorovi/crkva_l.htm I have some more photos of the church when used for special occasions, but I just have to find them. :( I'll post them as soon as I locate them.

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THE PALACE CHURCH

The Palace Church is attached to the south side of The Royal Palace and linked to the main building by a colonnade of stone pillars. The Church is dedicated to St. Andrew the First Called (the Royal Family’s Patron Saint). The Church is based on the model of the Royal Church of the Serbian medieval King Milutin in Studenica, but somewhat larger. It also influenced by the monastery Church of Saint Andrew on the River Treska in Macedonia which was built by Andrew the son of the Serbian medieval King Vukashin. The Church was designed and built at the same time as The Royal Palace.

The interior of the Church is covered with frescoes painted by a team of artists from the Belgrade Artist Association. Following King Alexander I instructions this group visited most of the Serbian medieval monasteries in order to copy their frescos. The group was led by academician Nikolai Kasnoff. After preparing the walls and cataloging the drawings the final decision to go ahead was made by King Alexander I. The Russian painters Boris Obrascov, Nikolai Maiendorf, Vladimir Bickovski, Viktor Sevcov, and Reitlinger and Evgeny Varnu-Secret were chosen to paint the Church. All painters were requested to produce records of their previous work in medieval monasteries. The whole project for the completion of the Church took about 36 months.

Thank you so much Danielle for such a variety of interesting articles, informative links and lovely photos! Truly enjoyed them. Highly appreciated. :)

Oh well thank you.:o I didn't know if anyone would read them, but I found them interesting. I still have a few more things to add, but I don't want to overload the thread. :p It said in your profile that you're from Serbia and Montenegro. I don't know which part you are from, but have you met the RF before?

Belgrade 29 December 2004. HRH Crown Prince Alexander sent letters of condolences today to the ambassadors of the countries that suffered from the terrible tsunamis.

“It is with great sorrow that I received the news about the horrible tsunami earthquake. My wife and I are profoundly shocked about this appalling tragedy that has deeply impacted the whole world. Please extend to all the families of those who perished our deepest condolences and to all those hurt a speedy recovery” - the Crown Prince mentioned in his letters.

Oh well thank you.:o I didn't know if anyone would read them, but I found them interesting. I still have a few more things to add, but I don't want to overload the thread. :p It said in your profile that you're from Serbia and Montenegro. I don't know which part you are from, but have you met the RF before?

You are most welcome :). The truth is that this thread doesn't get that much attention nor has as much devoted readers as some others might have, however there are few regulars (I hope), me included. :)

I am from Beograd (Belgrade), and yes, I had a pleasure to meet some members of RF. I always had a special respect for Prince Tomislav, who has passed away, unfortunately. How about you? Any ex YU origins? :)

You are most welcome :). The truth is that this thread doesn't get that much attention nor has as much devoted readers as some others might have, however there are few regulars (I hope), me included. :)

I am from Beograd (Belgrade), and yes, I had a pleasure to meet some members of RF. I always had a special respect for Prince Tomislav, who has passed away, unfortunately. How about you? Any ex YU origins? :)

Wow, that's nice you've met some of the RF. I guess in the past, you wouldn't have seen too much of the present Karadjordjevic's, but maybe now that they have moved back?. No, no ex YU origins for me, just interested in the region. :p Prince Tomislav; that's CP Alexander's uncle, right? I do not know much about him. :( This RF has always interested me, since you never hear anything about them. Can I ask, are a lot of people supportive of the RF (although technically not ruling) or is it the opposite?

Yes, my family' remote connections with RF dated way back - from the period of WWII and King Petar's exile in London. Although some members of my family used to have more opportunities to meet RF members at that time and the years to follow, now that Prince Tomislav is passed away and CP Aleksandar's nuclear family returned to Belgrade, I didn't have much opportunities to actually meet any of them in a less formal occasions apart from official receptions. I guess we've been moving in a different circles. :)

Prince Tomislav was remarkable gentleman, approachable, unpretentious, authentic and strong personality with genuine interest and patriotic disposer toward his roots, country and people. I'm sorry for not being able to recommend any English translated literature dedicated to not only his life and work, but also general history of Karadjoredjevic RF. I guess it would be possible to google-out some information in regard, yet not as much as it might be to one's interest. However, despite the fact that they keep rather low public profile RF, especially Princess Katarina are very much involved in various charities, especially those dedicated to children. Young Princes spend most of their time in Britain, attending school.

Although RF has certain number of supporters - mostly gathered into one of few pro-monarchistic political parties, general public support can be hardly qualified as significant. More than ten years passed from CP Aleksanadr'a first visit to Belgrade and yet, the language barrier is still very present, which additionally makes it more difficult for an average Serbian to correlate with RF in a patriotic manner seeing them as their representatives and as a part of their own people. An open conflict of interest inside the RF (between CP Aleksandar and Princess Jelisaveta) certainly is not contributing to Family's public image in a positive way.

Hopefully, RF will find the way in the near future to overcome present gap created by history heritage and circumstances and to become more credible representative of it's country and people.

Thank you so much for answering my questions. I googled Prince Tomislav's name and I found this speech he gave; it was really nice, and he seemed like a wonderful person. That is really amazing your family have links with the RF.

I can understand why people cannot relate to them as 'their people' I suppose. They have spent most of the time in London, and from what I understand, they cannot speak Serbian. I know that the boys have taken Serbian studies at university, but are they 'fluent' yet?

The Keynote speaker, HRH Prince Tomislav addressed the convention. Excerpts from his speech are summarized below.

"Love starts with your parents. That love is one of the most important things in your lives. I have that love for the whole of my family and all members of the Karadjordjevich's. The second love is a love when you get married to your wife. There is a third love, for which I am very much attached to, and that is the love for my people...

...Quite often, when we had to go to the front, I had to bring my own security. Not because I was frightened, but because of some so called colonels, who were sent down from Serbia. I had more fear from them, than from the enemy.

I spoke to lots of these people at the front line, because I wanted to know what the truth was. You get politicians going around saying "we want peace in Serbia," but do they really want peace? But by talking to these young fighters, they said "we are just praying for peace so that we can return back to our homes; we are just defending our lands like what we did at the battle of Kosovo."... We are defending Christianity, and that is what we are doing right now - we are defending Christianity and our homes.

I must thank and congratulate Dr. Biljana Plavsic in winning her position as the President of Republika Srpska. She is the most charming woman. She is the person with the big heart.

After these elections, there is a straw of hope. Please grab that straw of hope, because it is the right straw. We do not want only financial help. We need you to unite, all Serbian organizations, because we need your spirit and your strength, your unity. This is what we need.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the Serbian Unity Congress, for the dialogue you are having now with all the representatives in the Washington. Through dialogue you can do an awful lot and change the minds of many people who are trying to run the world. They never will run the world. And no one is going to run Yugoslavia and Serbia. We are going to do it ourselves. We have to return back to our roots, to our traditions. No other country has got the traditions, the cultures, the history like we have got. If we don't go back to them, we have no future."

Oplenac, July 17 - HRH Prince Tomislav Karadjordjevic, the second son of King Aleksandar I, was buried yesterday in the crypt of the St. George's Church at Oplenac. Apart from the members of the Royal Family Karadjordjevic, headed by HRH Crown Prince Aleksandar, numerous representatives of public and political life of Serbia and of the Republic of Srpska attended the funeral. Serbian Patriarch Pavle performed the funeral service, together with nine hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Mr Zoran Savic, representative of the Serbian Unity Congress, attended the funeral and placed a wreath from SUC on the tomb of HRH Prince Tomislav Karadjordjevic. SUC news photographer photographed the funeral. In conformity with a very strict protocol, at the moment of Prince's burial, one could not enter the Church at Oplenac except with a pass "Endowments of King Petar I". In the solemn funeral silence in Oplenac, the arrival of Crown Prince Aleksandar incited applauses and shouts: "We want the King!" After the funeral of Prince Tomislav, Royal Family members mixed with people, shaking hands and exchanging greetings.

Dr. Kulic with his closest associates warmly welcomed their guests and explained the current situation and plan of the development for this important medical centre. Dr. Kulic awarded a thank you letter to the Crown Prince and Princess for the constant care and help from The Royal Family for this important medical institution. Afterwards the Crown Prince and Princess toured the Centre.

During their visit, Their Royal Highnesses spent time talking to the young patients, who were unable to spend the Holidays with their families in the warmth of their homes due to their state of health, and made them very happy by giving them Christmas presents and small parcels.